Ireland August 2012 - Day 9 & 10 - Lough Erne car drive, Splash, Claddagh Glen and Home

Day 9

Thursday the 9th of August

Me and the twins are going for a car ride around Lower Lough Erne while the others are away doing their own thing.

Our first stop should have been at the Ferry Terminal to Devenish Island to see if we could get a view of the 12th Century tower. We somehow missed it.

We did however get to the shore at Killadeas. The boats top right in the above collage were moored at the next place we stopped..............

........................Castle Archdale

I'm absolutely thrilled with this place. There's a World War 2 exhibition here.

I also have a connection with this place.

My Uncle David was based here for a short period.

My Uncle David was a Flight Sergeant in the RAF who lost his life in a tragic accident on the 8th of July 1945. He was the flight engineer in a Catalina that crashed into Lake Victoria,Kisumu, Tanganyika.

Although I couldn't see him in any of the pictures on display, I'm sure he'd have known many of the ground crew who were based here.

How unlucky he was to die and the war was over.

We continue our tour going through Kesh and onto Boa Island....

.....where we took the pulley boat over to Lusty Beg Island

It was an interesting short visit, but we didn't spot too much lustiness happening !

On now to Castle Caldwell

Where we enjoyed cooling our feet in the glorious water

This is the Super Slow Motion Video on my camera

I added the sound effects later


After a short visit to Belleek we made our way down to Garrison on Lough Melvin

A short walk from the main road took us through to the waterfalls on the Roogagh river.

We mostly lazed the rest of the day and watched the Olympic games with Nicola Adams, Katie Taylor and Jade Jones's gold medals among the highlights.

To me though, I thought the most impressive of the day was David Rudisha's world record in the 800 metres.

The bars of Blacklion and Belcoo were visited for liquid refreshments that night.

Day 10

Friday the 10th of August

The Cheltenham contingent head down to Dublin Port today 

Me, Sarah and Marie begin the day with a walk round the paths of Corralea.

Sarah takes charge of my camera for some shots.

I have not got the foggiest idea of how she's got that effect on the above picture, but isn't it brilliant !

Is it an Irish Fairy ring ?

A collage of some of Sarah's other pictures.

My four lasses together.

L to R = Marie, Michele, Lynn and Sarah

The next couple of hours were spent in the water.

It's a wonderfully warm day

Callum and Erin.

Charlotte and Jack.

All girls together

The good old self timer get's the whole gang.

There'll be a lot more pictures going on Facebook

Cladagh Glen was where the first goodbyes were said.

I blogged a post on this wonderful glen in November 2010

I get another short video clip

Marie makes airborne water patterns.

So as Phil,Sarah and Marie were heading off, we met Michele, Callum and Erin coming up the glen.

I got a second climb up to the caves.

There are some weird and wonderful rock formations up here...........

.................and a lovely family

I love this picture.

Doesn't Erin resemble an angel

Our last visit this trip is up to Doon (Dunmakeever)

Me and Charlie walk up to the waterfall.

Many's the trout I've enjoyed from that pool over the years.

Jack and Charlotte wave me goodbye (I've not gone yet !)

Thanks for these pictures Marie.

This is the P.McGovern who helped build the Trig Point. Oh sorry ! The Triangulation Station.

It was earlier than I'd previously mentioned . Not the 50's but 1948

Here we are with our hosts at the top of Doon, Helen and John. 

Thanks for all the lovely food, drink and the wonderful Irish welcome.

We'll be back.

Day11

After tidying the cottages and settling the fuel bill we say our goodbyes.

(I'll see some of the family back in Newton Stewart as they're staying overnight)

I've a whole day till my boat, so I'll go via Ballyshannon.

It's a few years since I was up this way in a car, and I'm amazed at the road improvements.

Ballyshannon now has a bypass.

Donegal town was packed.

This is the famous (or infamous) Barnesmore Gap on the main road between Donegal town and Ballybofey

Have a read of some historic accounts including the hanging of three innocent men for sheepstealing here on The Finn Valley Website 

After passing through Ballybofey I head up to Letterkenny............

.........where I do some shopping in Penneys 

I double back to Lifford/ Strabane and make my way over to Claudy where I'll have my lunch

After looking at this memorial statue by Elizabeth McLaughlin and reading the wall plaques to the victims, I had to dry my eyes. I honestly hope we've seen the last of this kind of suffering.

Read James Simmons "Ballad of Claudy" , and see what you feel. 

Dungiven is the last big town I pass through before I get back to the docks at Belfast.

A little further down this wall (inset) reads 'Céad Míle Fáilte' a hundred thousand welcomes.

Thank you again Ireland, we had them.

Long may you be peaceful.

Ireland August 2012 - Day 3 & 4 - Fermanagh

I've been out of WI-FI range for a week, so it'll take a while to catch up.

It's Friday the 3rd of August and I'm leaving the Mountains of Mourne..

There's a short road on the Spelga Dam I've got to take a look at on the way though.

There's already quite a few videos of this optical illusion on Youtube, and my short clip isn't much good, but here it is anyway.

There was no one around, and my wee car picked up speed too quickly, hence the brevity of the clip.

Like I said there's a few already on Youtube. 

My favourite would be this one by Shanna on 'There and back again'

It's a dreich day as I head westwards.

Once on the shores of Upper Lough Erne I decide to take a look at the Crom Estate 

There's a deal on National Trust membership so I join and get my £4.50 entrance fee back.

It's a large estate so I get my walking boots on.

There's a fair variety of mature trees. 

The Crom yews are thought to be 800 years old.

Crom  Old Castle

Look out for colourful dragonflies they said.

There were much bigger ones, but I couldn't get a picture of them.

It's worth a visit

The National Trust doesn't own Crom Castle though.

It's still in the Crichton family, the hereditary Earl Erne

His lordship is keen to share his sumptuous home for a price.

The West Wing 

The deer are a little shy

There's lots to see and do. As I arrived back a wedding party had just arrived.

More guests were arriving by boat.

Now I'll have a moan.

Having just joined the National Trust, I thought I'd ask about a roof over my head for the night in one of the holiday cottages. There were eight of them and not all were occupied. The young lady who'd signed me up was helpful, but couldn't do anything but telephone the cottages booking office. Booking was for a minimum of two nights at a cost of £300. It was late afternoon and the chances of letting the remaining rooms must have been remote at that time of day. I decided against the expense. I also decided against pitching a tent with a minimum price for two ! Am I the only single person around.

My next stop was Lisnaskea where I inquired about a single room in the hotel there. Again I was quoted a silly price. 

Lisnaskea needs it's drainage system upgraded. The weather hadn't been brilliant, but now the heavens opened and soon the drains were erupting in fountains of water. 

The rain also blocked the road to Derrylin, so I made me way to Carrybridge where I'd dined nicely on my 2011 Trip.

At last a very reasonable price for Bed and Breakfast  I got the one room left.

It's a popular place with the boat people.

I get a good night's sleep.

After a lovely breakfast I've time to look at something happening in the water.

It's a swim to Enniskillen. I'm not sure if this was a charity swim, or a training run for the Irish Long Distance Swimming Championships which take place here on Sunday. It's nearly eleven miles !

Enniskillen comes next for me

And now I'm a member of the National Trust, I can take a look around Florencecourt

The ancestral home of the Cole Family, the Earls of Enniskillen

I get a tour guide all to myself as the previous tour is already underway.

As with all these period houses, photography is prohibited inside. 

This is the mother tree of all Irish yew trees.

Here's it's history on Rural NI

The Wonder of Yew

It's hard to believe that after coming to this area for 40 plus years this is the first time I've visited Florencecourt.

My last car journey of the day takes me over to Belcoo and the 

Corralea Activity Centre

Here I'm meeting up with my four daughters and their families.

We've hired these two cottages for a week.

Let the fun begin.